Flipkart joins the mothers’ club

Extended leaves, maternity claim benefits, crèche support and baby showers are some of the attractions for expectant and new mothers in the workforce.

This is not another online shopping festival targeted at women and mothers. This time, Flipkart has thought of a way to show its solidarity towards women employees.

Following the footsteps of Vodafone, Accenture, Citibank and Mondelez, Flipkart has also extended the maternity leave, for expecting mothers in its workforce, to six months. The would-be mothers can avail the leave three months prior to the expected date of delivery or as per their own convenience.

In addition, the new mothers can also avail four months of flexible working hours with full pay along with continuity on the same job. The other option for the employees would be to avail an extended leave of up to 12 months without pay and return to jobs/posts available at that time.

The would-be mothers will also get transport reimbursement of up to Rs 600 per day for two months before going on maternity break. The expectant as well as new mothers will get dedicated parking spots for two months before and after delivery.

The etailing company has also allotted a maternity claim benefit for women employees — Rs 65,000 for a normal delivery and Rs 80,000 for a C-section.

Post delivery, the new mothers will get crèche support as the Company has tied up with day care centres, on co-share basis (50:50), for children up to four years.

A maternity care programme has been announced by Flipkart, which will offer new and expectant mothers advice from wellness coaches on parenting, work–life balance and family health among other things.

The best part of this entire exercise would be the baby showers organised within the office premises with gift baskets for the would-be mothers.

Of late, India Inc. seems to have become more considerate towards new parents than ever before. Vodafone, Accenture and Citibank, now have extended maternity benefits for their women employees.

Mondelez is one company which has gone a step ahead and extended benefits to not only natural parents but even those who have opted for surrogacy and adoption.